August 2005, ADX Florence prison:
"On your feet O'Brien." The lead man of a three man group said as they stopped at Walter O'Brien's cell door.
Walter looked at the door for nearly a minute.
"If I have to come in there, we're going to discover that you fell down and broke several ribs." The man threatened him.
Walter sighed as he stood. They have given him at least one beating every week as they interrogated him for the last five months. And he knew his ribs would not withstand much force.
"That's a good boy. Hands through the gate." The man said as he slid the small door open.
Walter walked over with a limp, his hip still hadn't recovered from a beating from three weeks ago. His hands pushed through the opening and cuffs were cruelly clamped around his wrists. He grimaced but refused to utter a sound. He pulled his hands back through and turned to face away from the door.
The lock mechanism clacked as it was unlocked and the door opened.
Walter felt someone step up behind him and secured his ankles in restraints before the lead was pulled up and secured to the belt around his waist. He felt a tap on his shoulder and Walter turned to face the open door.
The men stepped back and Walter stepped out and turned the direction they pointed and began walking, almost a shuffle, down the corridor.
Walter was taken once again to the interrogation room. Forced into the chair and his hands secured to a bar on the table. He was surprised the men didn't assault him before leaving him alone. The door opened again exactly one hundred nine seconds later.
"Well, Mr O'Brien…how are we today?" The director of FinCEN asked as he walked around the table.
His eyes looked at Walter sitting there, just staring straight ahead.
"That good huh?" He smiled before sitting down. "So tell me Walter, are you ready to tell me the truth?"
"I've told you the truth. Multiple times since you arrested me. It isn't my fault you refuse to believe me." Walter told him.
"Well, first, you know you weren't arrested. It might have looked like that, but the Patriot Act was just a great tool to help us weed out the problem people. We got you into their circle, we need to know the truth. Who is Marcella?" He asked Walter.
"I told you, I was never able to find out. Someone tipped them off. They came for me quickly, they kidnapped me. As directed in that situation, I located all of their bank accounts, and froze them just as you asked. And then minutes before your men arrived on location Marcella ran." Walter told him.
"Right, so we caught three people trying to escape but not Marcella. Yet none of you can give us any information, not even a description of Marcella. You couldn't even confirm if she left through that underground tunnel." The director told him.
"I told you, she left the room before anyone came in, so I have no idea where she went. I also don't know who you caught and I'm not responsible for whatever information they haven't given you. I gave you what info I knew, she always wore a ski mask when I saw her. She is between five foot seven and six foot two. Roughly one hundred ten pounds, red hair, blue eyes and a skin complexion similar to mine. Her accent was long term Californian, minimum of eight years. With a bit of East coast word usage, possibly having lived there long term, ten years minimum before California." Walter told him.
"What is it?" The director said angrily as he touched his ear. "Fine, send him in. It seems you have a visitor."
There was a buzz and the door opened and Walter heard the sound of soft leather on the floor.
"I've got an order from the President of the United States, demanding Walter O'Brien's immediate release to me." The man said angrily.
Walter looked sharply to his left at the voice he remembered so well.
The director snatched the order from the man and read it.
"This is bull shit agent Gallo." The director told him.
"I don't give a crap what you call it. What's bull shit is you kidnapped Mr O'Brien and have held him here for months. Denying you knew where he was. The President is furious and you can kiss your position goodbye when I file my report. Walter O'Brien volunteered at the President's request to help in the investigation. You have shown no ties between Walter and this so-called "Marcella". And the President is beyond pissed at you personally. So get those restraints off of Mr O'Brien immediately and take us to processing so he can collect his things and leave with me, now." Cabe told him.
While his face never betrayed his feelings, Walter was thrilled that his ordeal seemed to be over.
Walter could barely stand when they removed the shackles, walking with Cabe down the corridor was slow. Cabe came up under his left arm and took some of the weight off his left hip.
"Did they do this?" Cabe asked.
"Of course they did." Walter replied.
When they gave Walter a box of his belongings, Cabe growled seeing the damaged phone and laptop in the box.
"I'll see these items are made right, Walter." Cabe told him.
Walter shrugged as he changed from the prison jumpsuit to the clothes they had taken from him. They were now two sizes too big for him.
"We'll stop and get you a good meal before we hit the highway to head back to LA." Cabe told him.
"Thank you." Walter said softly.
"Yes sir Mr President. Rather than confronting him again, I took a chance and followed Hedley. One of the guards at Florence was a friend of mine and he gave me the info about who Hedley was visiting in the prison." Cabe said into the phone at the table as Walter ate. "Walter said they've beaten him a number of times since he was taken into custody. He's got a pretty severe limp on his left side. I've noticed he's protective of his right ribs, so I'm sure they have hurt him there as well. He's definitely been starved, his clothes are quite a bit bigger on him."
Cabe nodded.
"I can do that sir." Cabe told him. "Walter, the President wants to speak to you." Cabe held his phone out.
"Mr President." Walter said softly. "Thank you sir. No, I was never able to find out who Marcella was. I understand sir. I was able to freeze all their bank accounts. Yes sir, I informed them of the same information every time they interrogated me. They were convinced I was working for them."
"I understand sir, and I hope you won't take this the wrong way. But after the way I was treated I don't want to help in another case." Walter told him. "Of course sir, it will take a little while to get you the information because they busted my laptop."
Walter held the phone back out to Cabe.
"Mr President?" Cabe asked after taking the phone back. "Of course sir, have a good day sir." Cabe ended the call and put the phone back into his pocket. "The President hopes you will reconsider your position after you get back home and heal up."
Walter just grunted as he continued to eat.
Walter sat staring at the Garage with a big foreclosed sign on it from inside Cabe's SUV. From what he could tell everything he had inside was probably gone, sold or destroyed.
Cabe was standing outside the SUV on the phone trying to get solutions to what had happened.
Walter's thoughts returned to February 10th as he was introduced into the inner circle of Marcella. He'd been given a broad range of freedom by the President, to help bring the group to its knees. He was treated roughly and suspiciously his entire time with the group.
Marcella herself was an amazing woman. She always treated him fairly and often confided in him. Her voice had an amazing quality to it. Her touch sent shivers through his body and flooded his brain with endorphins that literally exploded his senses. She often would whisper her instructions into his left ear while her fingers caressed his right ear. His body would shudder from how she made him feel.
After a month of teasing him that way, Walter couldn't take it one day and he forced a kiss with her. He felt Marcella grin as he kissed her, she even let his tongue enter her mouth. The kiss lasted thirteen point eight seconds before she snapped her fingers and one of her men slugged Walter in his ribs.
"You've got to learn not to be greedy Walter." She purred to him. Her left hand touched his cheek gently and pressed against it, encouraging Walter to look up at her face. "Are you okay?" Her voice was soft with obvious care and concern.
"I'm sorry for overstepping." Walter nodded. Walter wasn't sure of much when it came to romance, but he felt he was growing closer, romantically with Marcella. He had never believed in romantic love before.
Walter's thoughts were interrupted as Cabe opened the driver's door.
"It's going to take them a bit to get this sorted out Walter." Cabe said as he got into his SUV and interrupted his memory.
"Not surprising." Walter said, almost sounding defeated.
"We'll have you a check to help with immediate needs in a couple of days. In the meantime, I want you to come stay with me until they get it straightened out." Cabe told him sincerely.
Walter shrugged. In reality, despite his anger at Cabe, he really needed his help right now.
"My sister?" Walter asked suddenly.
"Last I talked with her, she was doing fine, would you like me to take you by to see her before I take you home?" Cabe asked.
Walter nodded even as Cabe started the SUV.
"She's probably worried, we've always had weekly catch ups." Walter said even as Cabe took off.
"She's how I got involved." Cabe told him. "She was very worried about you."
Walter nodded.
"Walter!" Megan screamed in relief as Walter walked into her room.
Walter had a slight smile on his face as they hugged.
"Where have you been? I haven't heard from you since early December. I thought you had died." Megan said even as she hit his shoulder with her fist.
"I was undercover for the President." Walter told her softly.
Megan's eyes went wide even as she looked at Cabe. She watched Cabe nod his affirmation.
"Who hurt you?" Megan asked as they both sat down.
"The Feds." Walter shrugged. "They didn't like that I couldn't tell them anything about who I was sent in to get information on. I was with the group for a little more than three months but she never revealed who she was."
"Cabe?" Megan demanded.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to get through the bureaucratic nonsense to find him. I've got them working on making this right with Walter." Cabe told her. "The President is furious about what happened after Walter was gracious enough to do this at his request. The director of FinCEN is likely looking at prison time over what he did. At the very least his career in the government is over and there will be no hope of a career in politics."
"My poor Walter." Megan said sadly. "Would you mind sitting with me for a while? Maybe we can call Mom and Dad, let them know you are okay?"
Walter shrugged but then nodded his head.
"So you guys can relax, Walter is going to be staying with me for awhile, I'll make sure he's okay." Cabe told her.
Megan smiled as she nodded
Walter laid awake in the bedroom at Cabe's apartment. His thoughts went back to Thanksgiving last year and an unexpected phone call from the White House. That call led him to a private plane and a Secret Service ride to the White House, where he met the President. He wasn't too impressed with the man, but he felt he was sincere. Walter listened to everything the FinCEN advisor was able to relate to the situation.
Walter wasn't too impressed but agreed to the mission and the President gave him a broad range of freedom to operate. Short of murder, he felt like he was one of Megan's favorite characters, James Bond. First Walter activated one of his deep background fake IDs. Using Federal resources he was able to give the ID an even deeper, more realistic touch, one that he was sure would fool anyone looking into it, no matter how deep they looked.
With his own review of the data Walter contradicted FinCEN's assertion of where the gang was located. Walter had narrowed it down to five cities, none of which were on the Fed's list. They fought and argued over placing him in one of the cities Walter had calculated. The President had to get involved again to settle the issue. Walter told him if they could give him a month in one of his cities, he was sure he could prove his deductions.
The President reviewed both sets of cities and then asked Walter a couple of surprisingly appropriate questions before asking him which city he felt the strongest about.
Five days later, after FinCEN secured it, he was moved into an FBI safehouse in Boulder, Colorado as Walter had wanted. Three days later on December 5th, Walter sent out his first feeler. He got a strike on it the next day, but he knew it had to be a test. Walter let it pass as he sat drinking a cup of coffee at a cheap diner and waited. He couldn't afford to be too anxious. He'd either spook them and they'd scatter or his remains would be found in some forsaken place.
Four nibbles and two days later he got the strike he felt was real. He accepted the contract. The next morning he sent back a message asking how they wanted to make the exchange. That night he was at a local burger joint. It was quite busy which made sense, to Walter. Walter sat down with his burger at a table for four and adjusted the fake glasses he wore, the signal he was to give.
Two men made their way over from the counter ten minutes later.
"Mind if we sit, pretty packed tonight." One man said.
"Not at all, the Moonflower blooms at night." Walter gave the code phrase.
"I'm allergic." The man kind of grunted as they both sat down.
Walter scanned across the dining room and then his left hand gave a small jerk and a flash drive slid out of his cuff and across the table. The man who had spoken caught it up and after taking a drink slipped it into his pocket.
"See the guy standing by the white sedan with the red hoodie?" The man said softly.
Walter nodded as he looked out in the lot.
"When you leave in a few minutes, tell him "barfly" as you offer him a dollar. He'll tell you where the payment is." The man told him.
Walter continued eating the burger.
"Well, I think I'm done." Walter said to the two guys. "Have a good evening." Walter had sat through three days of intense training to give him just enough social grace to try and pass roughly as normal.
Ten minutes later Walter had the small backpack and returned to the house. The bag was clearly bugged, but Walter wasn't worried about it. It was part of the game. He got the thousand dollars out and put it away before storing the backpack in a closet.
The next day while he was out, his house was entered and what little was there was gone through. FinCEN had done a good job making it look like a legitimate home.
The next day Walter had another job. By the 15th of December he was able to give confirmation to FinCEN that he had made contact with the group. Now it was a matter of doing enough gopher quests to build up trust so he could climb higher into the group to get to the leader.
One of the jobs surprised him, it came three days later and it was to disperse nearly three million dollars to a number of charities who were having a hard time meeting goals for Christmas.
By January he had actually met a few of the higher ranking members of the group and had been taken to some of the hideouts they used. They relied on simple measures to hide them, like putting a blindfold on him. Walter's eidetic memory let him memorize everything about the trips and with simple cross checking he was able to map out the locations.
Greetings! I hope this finds you well. It's just a short story with an alternate start to Walter's life, I debated whether to post it as a separate story or in the "Grab Bag". I finally opted to do it as a regular story, it might speak again some day. Hope you enjoy it.
To the Adventure! -Tim